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Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence


RRP: £19.99
Our Price: £5.99 (subject to change)

Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Mamoru Oshii's landmark Ghost in the Shell (1995) largely defined the cyberpunk genre and influenced the Matrix films in the U.S. The long-awaited sequel continues the adventures of Batou, Major Kusanagi's former assistant, who was left behind when she disappeared into the cyber-realm of the Net.

With his new human partner, Togusa, Batou investigates a series of bloody murders involving gynoids, robots with sexual functions. The case leads them to the headquarters of the Locus Solus company, where Batou uncovers the evil secret behind the creation of the gynoids. Innocence includes some staggeringly beautiful CG images, especially a parade depicting characters from Chinese mythology. Oshii contrasts this glittering beauty with a Blade Runner-esque dystopia. But even his skill as a director can't disguise the fact that the underdeveloped story and flat characters are far less interesting than the opulent visuals. --Charles Solomon


Disappointing
Review date: 2008-09-26 Rating: 4 out of 10

I guess it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway: visually this film is stunning. No doubt about it.

Unfortunately this fact only serves to intensify the disappointing nature of every other aspect of the movie. There isn't enough incident in the actual plot to sustain a five minute short and yet somehow the movie clocks in at about 90 mins. This is because the rest of the time is wasted on poorly written, pseudo-philosophical dialogue between characters you care nothing about on topics that could only be considered original or even halfway interesting by people who've never thought about anything ever before and interminable pointless scenes that seem to be an attempt to create a mood of reflective, understated sadness but which fail utterly due to the makers of this movie having failed to understand that you need to have created some sort of emotional tie in order for these scenes to have any power.

The film flits from disconnected scene to disconnected scene with practically no linkage or continuity. Each scene, taken individually, is wonderfully animated, shows an incredible imaginative scope and seems to positively drip with hidden metaphor and poignancy, but, when they're simply played one after the other with nothing to back them up, you soon lose interest. If four, five, six...ten of these scenes had been interspersed into a better written, more plot driven movie, I would probably be moved to describe them as approaching high art. As it is they're nothing more than a random collection of images and, no matter how lush they are, their potential remains unfulfilled and they never affect you with the power their cold, almost sterile, beauty suggests they could.

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Reviews


Even if you loved the first film, you may not like this one.
Review date: 2008-05-27 Rating: 6 out of 10

I read a review that said that people who loved the first film should see this one, I have to say I disagree, the film is completely different, and I'm not just talking about the story. the entire style is different, more of a dark, Sin City sort of feel with classic cars (in the future???) rolling around a dark and gloomy metropolis that has no resemblence to the hong kong style city of the first film, the movie wanders between situations that seem, at least in the Japanese dub, to bear little relation to each other, though doubtless i would understand it better upon a second viewing.

This is not to say that it is a bad film. certainly it is visually stunning, particularly the attention to detail and especially the festival scene in the foreign city. The use of 3D is especially impressive and is a welcome break from the likes of shrek and others.

In conclusion, it was a good film, darkly philosophical though slightly depressing. But in all honesty, I prefer the Stand alone complex series as a compliment to the first film. I suspect this DVD will sit on my shelf for a while before I watch it again.

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. Region 2
Review date: 2008-04-01 Rating: 6 out of 10

The first Ghost In The Shell is one of the finest examples of anime to date so anticipation for Innocence was very high. The basic plot is fairly simple, Batou and his new partner Togusa are sent to investigate cases of Gynoids (androids made to look like young women and used for sex) killing people. The stunning visuals and score aside, the first film was a great sci-fi movie. Innocence however serves as more of a visual spectacle than a great piece of science fiction.

The main problem with Innocence is the screenplay, which seems fairly week and filled with far too much philisophical nonsense in place of proper dialogue. The plot devices are too contrived, which leads to confusion. The third act (a critical stage in the film) in particular is poorly set up and, as a result, the point at which the plot is lost. Some of this could be blamed on bad translation in the subtitles. In some scenes it's obvious that the text doesn't match what's actually being said, often needlessly elaborating when the character simply said one or two words. Thankfully, after the confusing second act, the third act picks up a few of the pieces, wakes us up with a bit of action and ends the film on a satisfying note. The main protagonist, Batou, is fleshed out and given more depth in this film. Perhaps the film's best scenes are when Batou isn't talking. He seems lonely except for his loving dog. His partner, Togusa, seems to have changed a bit from the first film. He's quite reluctant to partner with the apparently gung ho Batou. He generally seems tired with his job. This character could of perhaps been fleshed out a little more.

Innocence has a similair tone to the first film but visually it's quite different. CGI is combined with more traditional drawn animation to very good effect. While it's certainly more impressive than almost anything i've seen previously, it just lacks life. For example I love the way the first film presents the city it's set in. It feels like a real place that people live in. Innocence is too busy trying to impress us and fails to really achieve this. The score in Innocence, while very good, isn't as atmospheric as the first film's score, which owes much to Akira; not so much for the music but for the use of instrument sounds in a way that gives further life to the surroundings.

This edition comes with 2 discs. Both containing the feature film. Disc 1 has Dolby Digital sound and disc 2 has DTS sound. I personally can't see the need for this but the sound on both is fantastic. This is an excellent showcase for surround sound. Picture quality is also excellent.

While Innocence may not be as good as the first film, it most definately isn't bad. At the low price it's now available at it's certainly a worthwhile purchase.

Ghost in the Shell Reloded & Revolutions
Review date: 2007-08-13 Rating: 6 out of 10

For me I feel Innocence suffered in the same way as the Matrix Sequals. Both Ghost in the Shell and The Matrix were good action films with a bit of subtle philosophising if you wished to pick up on it (which I did) however as this had been made an important part of the origionals due to it's excellent (subtle) handling, the sequals therefore felt the need to retain this but they struggled with how to handle it.

In the Matrix sequals they just talk really quickly so that you don't (immediately) realise they are just waffling. With GITS: Innocence, the philospohy looses it's subtlty and a lot of it just seems to be cliched staments rather than anything that made me go off and ponder as the origional did.

Regarding the rest of the film although it is in the univesre of the first film, I found the storyline to be closer to the TV series, this may have come from the mixture of CGI and cell animation. Although both were visually brillant I would have preferred the directors to have picked one format and stuck with it. In saying that though, they did handle it well with the switch to CGI being used for visual asides and ambience moments whilst the charcter shots use cell art.

In Summary this is a sequal and falls into the trap of trying to follow up a brilliant origional. Although it is not as good as Ghost in the Shell, it is still a good enough film to enjoy a few times as long as you are not expecting the mastery shown in the origional

Region 1 DVD
Review date: 2007-08-03 Rating: 8 out of 10

I live in the US and was unfortunate to pick up the region one version, which has no English track and contains "hearing impaired" subtitles, quite annoying. So I'm here on Amazon's UK site ordering region two.

I just have to say that Dreamworks really dropped the ball on this one, and they still have not released an English dubbed version for the US.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Akio Ohtsuka
Koichi Yamadera
Atsuko Tanaka

Creators:
Akio Ohtsuka (Primary Contributor)
Atsuko Tanaka (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Manga Entertainment
Manufacturer: Manga Entertainment
EAN: 5022366206143
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 2
Format: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2006-02-27
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 96 minutes
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Japanese (Original Language)
Language: English (Dubbed)

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